NYFCC. (Ready, Set, Go: Awards Season!)
Tuesday, November 29, 2011 at 10:16AM 
Here we go...
Picture THE ARTIST
Director MICHEL HAZANAVICIUS (The Artist)
Actress MERYL STREEP (The Iron Lady)
Actor BRAD PITT (Moneyball and The Tree of Life)
• Big day for The Artist (top two prizes and also the leader at the Spirit Award nominations) and The Tree of Life (three prizes) and Moneyball (two prizes)
• So pleased to see Brad Pitt rewarded for two very different but totally compelling and soulful performances. Pitt's awards history has been strange so it could well be time for career honors.
• They first listed Meryl Streep's win as for "The Lady". Do you think Michelle Yeoh got her hopes up for a minute? This is Streep's fifth win from NYFCC. They also gave her the title for Julie & Julia, A Cry in the Dark, Sophie's Choice and a multiple films win in 1979.
Supporting Actor ALBERT BROOKS (Drive)
Supporting Actress JESSICA CHASTAIN (Tree of Life, The Help and Take Shelter)
Screenplay STEVEN ZAILLIAN and AARON SORKIN (Moneyball)
Cinematography EMMANUEL LUBEZKI (The Tree of Life)
• Happy for Lubezki & Moneyball. Fine choices and NYFCC had me worried at the beginning.
• Does this mean they thought Jessica Chastian sucked in The Debt and Coriolanus? If you're going for multiples go for multiples. P.S. Chastain's best performance this year was in The Help. It's true and you know it!
Foreign Film A SEPARATION (dir. Asghar Farhadi)
Documentary CAVE OF FORGOTTEN DREAMS (dir. Werner Herzog)
Animated Film no prize this year? we're awaiting confirmation...
First Film MARGIN CALL (dir. JC Chandor)
Special 2011 Prize a posthumous honor for filmmaker Raoul Ruiz
• I wish Sony Pictures Classic would push A Separation harder and release it earlier. It shouldn't be content with just a few foreign film wins here and there.
• More bad news for Martha Marcy May Marlene after its empty-handed night at the Gothams, it loses best first feature this morning.
• Is the Herzog vote in documentary a "take that, Oscars!" jab... (it didn't even make the finalists with Oscar. They have intermittent Herzog allergies over there in California) or their genuine favorite?
To give you a little more perspective on the New York Film Critics Circle, herewith a list of previous top awards they've handed out over the past 15 years. For all of New York City's reputation as the iconoclastic hotbed of film criticism, the members of the NYFCC actually hew pretty close to Oscar buzz each year in the major categories. They have soft spots, fairly regularly, for the work of Alexander Payne and Mike Leigh.
Key: Oscar winners in red. Oscar nominees in black. Rare Oscar Snubs in blue.
(Year: Picture; Director; Actress; Actor; Screenplay)
2010: The Social Network; David Fincher; Annette Bening; Colin Firth; The Kids Are All Right
2009: The Hurt Locker; Kathryn Bigelow; Meryl Streep; George Clooney; In the Loop
2008: Milk; Mike Leigh; Sally Hawkins; Sean Penn; Rachel Getting Married
2007: No Country For Old Men; Joel and Ethan Coen; Julie Christie; Daniel Day-Lewis; No Country For Old Men
2006: United 93; Martin Scorsese; Helen Mirren; Forest Whitaker; The Queen
2005: Brokeback Mountain; Ang Lee; Reese Witherspoon; Heath Ledger; The Squid and the Whale
2004: Sideways; Clint Eastwood; Imelda Staunton; Paul Giamatti; Sideways
2003: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King; Sofia Coppola; Hope Davis (multiple films); Bill Murray; The Secret Lives of Dentists
2002: Far From Heaven; Todd Haynes; Diane Lane; Daniel Day-Lewis; Adaptation
2001: Mulholland Drive; Robert Altman; Sissy Spacek; Tom Wilkinson; Gosford Park
2000: Traffic; Steven Soderbergh; Laura Linney; Tom Hanks; You Can Count on Me
1999: Topsy Turvy; Mike Leigh; Hilary Swank, Richard Farnsworth; Election
1998: Saving Private Ryan; Terence Malick; Cameron Diaz; Nick Nolte; Shakespeare in Love
1997: LA Confidential; Curtis Hanson; Julie Christie; Peter Fonda; LA Confidential
1996: Fargo; Lars von Trier; Emily Watson; Geoffrey Rush; Mother
Alexander Payne, NYC, Oscars (11), critics awards
Reader Comments (88)
July -- oh, you;ll get no argument from me that Meryl was better than Sandra in 2009 :) But she wasn't better than Gabby & Carey that year.
Nick -- i was kidding but reading it back over i can see that it sounded too serious. oops.
i do heart the NYFCC. would have preferred to see TREE OF LIFE snag top honors but THE ARTIST is still a lovely choice.
also very relived to see THE DESCENDANTS totally shut-out!
I'm annoyed with the Iron Lady win (unfairly, since I haven't seen it), but I don't think it's quite fair to lump these as biopics. Iron Lady sounds most traditional in this respect, but Cry in the Dark, while the story happened in real life, doesn't ask us to know any more about Lindy's "bio" than The Blind Side does about Leigh Anne's. And it's a very different kind of performance, for Streep and compared to the others. Sort of Silkwoody? As in based on real life but so refreshingly un-"biopic"-ish.
I just wish Iron Lady didn't sound so lame and politically reactionary. But am trying to reserve judgment...
Yah, Albert Brooks!
But I kind of hate it when they awards actors for multiple films. It doesn't make things any clearer for Oscars b/c the Academy can't vote that way. It also seems cheap. I mean, didn't Jessica Chastain have about 6 lines in Tree of Life?
It's not that she sucks in The Debt (her and Mirren are probably the highlights), but the movie just isn't very good.
I agree about hoping Chastain gets in for The Help, though I would be perfectly OK with her getting in for Tree of Life as well.
I bet the NBR comes up with better winners than these. Next.
While I thought she was delightful in The Help, I get easily annoyed when that film is brought up because I felt it took too many easy punches. I also felt there were too many characters who were written to be scene-stealers in that film rather than being organically written into the film, and while I think both Octavia Spencer and Jessica Chastain are fantastic in those roles, I feel that anyone who was given either of those roles would have stolen the film as well (again, not to take anything away from those performances). I was more impressed with her work in both The Tree of Life and Take Shelter and I actually also loved her in The Debt. She made some very thinly written scenes really spark (haven't seen Corolianus yet so I can't commment there). I'm really happy for Brad Pitt and Albert Brooks. Both gave amazing performances, and I'm a little annoyed that I'm going to have to wait until February probably to see The Artist (this is one of those times I really hate living in Mexico!!!)
Totally confused. I feel they took so different paths this year.
I also preferred Meryl to Sandra but that was TIlda's year. Sorry.
I don't get why The Help is getting so much attention. I don't see what makes it better than a regular Hallmark Hall of Fame TV-movie.
There are SO many great performances and films this year, I truly hope it becomes more competitive and unpredictable this awards season! I'm hoping LAFCC shakes it up further.
Get it, Meryl! Just won this two years ago? SO WHAT? Haha. She's gonna show these young bitches what's up ALL SEASON LONG! It's gonna be grand.
Re: Chastain's multiples... is it a good idea to want critics to be less discerning when deciding which performances to honor?
"Brad Pitt did voiceover work for Happy Feet Two... Best Actor citation!"
;-)
Whoops, just saw Nick's comment, and your response. Never mind!
I tend to agree with you ... BUT when I started with your blog, you seemed to have a much more favorable regard for her.
I, too, feel she should choose riskier projects, but, if she is as great in this movie as the current reviews say, I believe she deserves the award... as she has lost many times !!!!
I also worry that if she gets the Oscar, her career might end....look back on what has happened to so many of the actors after winning Oscar !!.. Nothing!
Also, there are not that many great parts out there for actresses her age.
Meryl is 62 years old .....what are these riskier projects she shuld be choosing? If they are so many out there....why is no other screen actress that age woking as successfully in film today? Let Streep do want she wants and work with who she wants. Even in these "non-risky" products she is still winning awards :) She does not even need to be working in film anymore. So why not surround yourself with challenging roles and work with your friends? In my opinion...playing some gangster's grandmother in a Scorcese film with 20 minute screen time is beneath her....so until Hollywood top directors want to create projects around 60 year old women...we should all stop our griping and be pleased she still graces the screen....even in biopics.
Can't we just give Meryl her third Oscar, please...
Nate - you were all for Meryl winning for Julie & Julia which was a biopic but now you are simply tired of her winning critic awards for biopics like Thatcher. Why not make up your mind.
Meryl's NYFCC wins have been for Kramer vs. Kramer, Sophie's Choice, A Cry in the Dark, Julie and Julia and The Iron Lady.
I think all of these performances were top notch - you can save your breath and disagree in silence since I'm entitled to my own opinion....
Thanks...
To be fair about Chastain's performance in Coriolanus going unnoticed, all Supporting Actress-focused eyes in that film are going to be on Vanessa Redgrave.
Rick - It does seem that Nathaniel has soured on Streep and really would be happy if she retired so he wouldn't have to deal with the La Streep topic so often. I, on the other hand, grew up with Streep (being the same age) and will be so sad when she stops gracing the cinema screens. She is simply brillant in my mind. I so want her to win a 3rd Oscar so much before we both retire or end up six feet under.
People should reserve their negative opinions about Meryl winning if they haven't seen "The Iron Lady" she deserves her win and most importantly, she deserves the Oscar, we should all just enjioy and applaud the fact that we get to see her give another OUTSTANDING performance, in my honest opinion.
Apparently, Kirsten Dunst was in the Top 3 for Best Actress here...wouldn't it have been great if she and Brad were reunited at the ceremony! Ah, missed opportunity!
Yay for Meryl Streep! That is all.
Mark--
I'm pretty sure that being entitled to your opinion does not mean that no one is allowed to disagree with you out loud (or in writing, in this case). Not really the way it works.
Jamie's absolutely right about Streep. I vaguely recall a Whoopi Goldberg interview following her "Color Purple" nomination, where she made light of the script choices she actually *had* (rather than the ones people *imagined* she had): "Here's a plle of great scripts. Here's some shitty scripts. I think I'll do the shitty ones..."
I'm sorry...but the NYFCC are pandering to the Hollywood crowd again. They are starting to remind me of the HFPA.
The NYFCC are becoming more and more mainstream by the year. This was a straight up Oscars precursor, and the early date for these awards when key films haven't even been released yet tells me all I need to know about the direction of this group. Streep again (YAWN), Pitt, "Moneyball" (jesus), Jessica Chastain and the 50 films she was in. What the hell ever. Bring on LAFCA and NSFC for some needed counterbalance. And I'm throwing additional scorn to this group for making me anticipate the f'ing NBR this week. See what you've done to me, "highbrow" NYFCC?
Maybe this is just wishful thinking, but I honestly think the LAFCA is going to shake things up a bit. Remember, they were the first group to give There Will Be Blood a lot of love in 2007. I think they'll do something like name The Tree of Life Best Picture, or Tilda Swinton Best Actress. I don't think this race is anywhere near being set in stone.
Everyone -- can we please stop this "nathaniel doesn't like Streep" bit. Just because I refuse to think she deserves the win every single year does mean I don't love her. Come on. Next you'll be demanding blood sacrifices to prove we love Streep.
I have been a fan my whole life. I just can't deal with fanboyisms that require me to unequivocally wish she would win every prize ever when there are also hundreds of other awesome actresses who deserve attention. I got other girls, too ;) It's true i did want her to win in 2009. not because i thought she was the best but because i know that when she finally wins a third people will finally calm down and allow other actresses to get their due. It's really too bad she didn't win in 2006 when she was totally the best and it was an original character that she created from her imagination.
Its boring that Streep won........why not Swinton, Close or Dunst?
Hurray for Tree of Life
No matter how much I do like some of these films nominated, I just cannot for the life of me get excited about these wins. It depresses me a bit, to be honest. Just so, so uninspired and predictable. The only one that was a little out-of-the-box was Brad Pitt (which is weird to say, considering he's one of the most famous people EVER).
I think what we are seeing nowadays is that instead of voting with their guts, many critics are pandering to the tastes of the Academy and trying to act as a precursor (and as a sort of "I told you so" once a certain film or performance starts picking up steam and makes it's way towards the Kodak stage).
And am I the only one who isn't too keen on Albert Brooks in Drive? I LOVED the movie to death but I do not find Brooks at all Oscar-worthy in what little screen time he has. In all honesty I even thought he was the least compelling character in the whole film (Ron Perlman and Bryan Cranston are worthier supporting actor nominees). In a just world Ryan Gosling would be a frontrunner for the Best Actor Oscar for his deeply internal and haunting performance. As far as Jessica Chastain, I have no grudge about honoring her although I wish they would have stuck with one film rather than honor her for the 138 films she was in this past year. It seems like it's more about quantity vs. quality, which bothers me.
Okay, I will stop being grouchy.
Rachel Getting Married should be highlighted in blue for its year - Anne was its only nomination.
Nathaniel, thank you for saying that because I was about to let loose up in here ;)
I just wish KiKi had won. :( Siiggh.
I was one of the first ten commenters and WHY IS ELECTION STILL BLUE? It got nominated for adapted screenplay.
Who here has actually seen "The Iron Lady"? Nathaniel? Anyone? Is this Meryl hate warranted based on the, you know, work? Or is it just, "I'm so sick of her, just reward her and get it over with," etc.?
Orion, did you not read what Nathaniel wrote? He just said that he in no way hates her.
And people say that Christopher Nolan fans are unreasonable...
I asked whether he's seen the film, not if he hates her or not. Read yourself.
Biggest bummer about The Artist winning picture and director is not, as it turns out, the wins themselves, but that the wins have now fanned the anti-The Artist backlash into full force. Guess I have four months of people insisting that its a meaningless trifle and/or an empty gimmick and/or boring and, anyway, not as good as Singin' in the Rain - or Hugo, for that matter - to look forward to. Great.
Orion-- And then you asked if Nathaniel's Meryl hate was warranted, despite the fact that there is no Meryl hate to begin with.
Nice try, though.
"when she finally wins a third people will finally calm down and allow other actresses to get their due"
OK, so root for her again. The sooner she wins, the sooner people will calm down.